Phantom Canyon freezing randomly with no BSOD

[Nucmeister]

Hi,

I'm having issues with my Intel NUC Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7CAA . It has developed a random freezing issue, which is a big problem as I'm using this as my workstation. Windows will freeze without any BSOD or error code. Sometimes it restarts automatically, most of the time it doesn't. It can work for hours on end as it did yesterday, but then freeze soon after startup which it did on the next boot.

Windows event viewer just shows a "Fatal hardware error has occurred" event.

What I've tried:

Reinstalling Windows 10
Updating to Windows 11 (It's now running 11 since it doesn't make any difference)
Switching RAM kits (both mem tested no errors)
Switching M.2 Drives (using dual m.2s)
Windows SFC scan reports no errors
The Intel CPU diagnostic tool reports no errors

I suspect it could possibly be an issue with an m.2 drive as it used to randomly disconnect with other brands of M.2 I tried initially (Crucial instead of Samsung). Or the RTX 2060, which when I reinstalled Windows showed up as "Windows has stopped this device" error in device manager until I installed NVidia drivers where it seemed to work fine. But I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out. It's very random too. Sometimes the PC can be fine for hours, other times it freezes soon after booting it up and opening Edge with something like Youtube.

Here's a recent event log if it helps. But if there's something else I can include, let me know. Though I don't know how to replicate this issue at all. I'd like to sort this issue out. I might do another reinstall of Windows 10 on another drive and try again.

System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
[ Guid] {c26c4f3c-3f66-4e99-8f8a-39405cfed220}

EventID 1

Version 0

Level 2

Task 0

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2021-07-20T06:10:06.0749344Z

EventRecordID 3946

- Correlation

[ ActivityID] {dfbd9ec6-d678-45d1-845d-1c6caf1ec77f}

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4144
[ ThreadID] 4844

Channel System

Computer DESKTOP-ERO32ET

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-19

- EventData

Length 3408

Edit: I reinstalled Windows 10 on a new SSD to try again. I don't think it will help, but anyway I wanted to ask if the attached images are normal on a new install. That Windows has stopped the Xe graphics.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Nucmeister,  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.   

I would like to let you know that our support is for Windows 10 (for the now) and these steps must be performed on Windows 10. In order to better assist you, please provide the following:  

1. Run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) to gather more details about the system.  

· Download the Intel® SSU and save the application on your computer:  https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-

· Open the application, check the "Everything" checkbox, and click "Scan" to see the system and device information. The Intel® SSU defaults to the "Summary View" on the output screen following the scan. Click the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".  

· To save your scan, click Next and click Save.  

2. When did the issue start?

3. Have you run Windows updates, including optional updates?

4. Have you updated the BIOS? Try a BIOS recovery.

- BIOS: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/30541/BIOS-Update-PHTGL579-

- Steps: https://downloadmirror.intel.com/30541/eng/NUC-AptioV-UEFI-Firmware-BIOS-Update-Readme.pdf

Regards,    

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Nucmeister]

Hi Deivid,

1. No problem. Attached

2. A few weeks now. The issues with M.2 drives randomly disconnecting (non-Samsung drives) was something I had since the start.

3. Yes, all up to date. At the moment I'm running Windows 10 with the drivers it found, instead of installing the latest. However, previous Windows 10 install I had the latest drivers and the exact same issue.

4. No, I can try it.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Nucmeister, 

Thanks for the information provided.

Before we continue further, please try a BIOS recovery and let me know if this helped.

1. BIOS: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/30541/BIOS-Update-PHTGL579-

2. Steps: https://downloadmirror.intel.com/30541/eng/NUC-AptioV-UEFI-Firmware-BIOS-Update-Readme.pdf

Best regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[intcnucsuxhard]

All same as me -- trying one more thing for Intel via their proper support but it's not looking good. Wouldn't bother wasting any more time on this until Intel switches the burden of fixing from us to themselves. Better to return.

[Nucmeister]

Edit: I've been using it after the BIOS recovery I didn't have any freezes for two days but it's back. 

The SD card reader also disappeared yesterday with this error in Event Viewer "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\DR3.".

It came back with a Windows restart. Assuming I have no hardware faults, I have to say this NUC is very unstable, I've had issues with the SD card reader, M.2 Slots,  WiFi, USB ports and of course the freezing. I hope the Intel team looks into it further.

[Nucmeister]

When I came back from lunch the PC was on a clean desktop. It had crashed and rebooted from being idle.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000009f (0x0000000000000003, 0xffffd90460da4120, 0xfffff8074ba91150, 0xffffd90465802050). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 9de4d587-a7a4-43cb-afe1-0a21e5d4e35b.

About 30 seconds after I wrote this message, Windows froze and I had to hard power off. Sigh. Fatal hardware error.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Nucmeister, 

Thank you for the information provided 

I will proceed to check the issue internally and post back soon with more details. 

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello Nucmeister, 

Based on the troubleshooting steps performed and your reports looks like the NUC may be defective. I recommend you to get in contact with us directly for warranty options.

Use the link that works better for you:

- US Canada: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@11 

- Europe, Middle East, and Africa: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support/emea-contact.html 

- Asia-Pacific: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support/apac-contact.html 

- Latin America: https://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/support/contact-support/lar-contact.html 

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician